because he wants a system that wont need upgrading for years, rather than months

Also you have to consider that some people do not know how to upgrade their system, or indeed what good prices are/whats actually good product!

Then there is also the ADDED danger of issues with the computer....if something goes wrong you either have to be able to troubleshoot yourself, or alternatively get it fixed by someone else (costs alot). You also have to buy everything seperately, which I noticed can be a real pain if you start afresh - XP, Office - and anything else you need.

Simply put those people do not want to have any hassles. They want a computer that will work well, and thats it. If there is a problem, get it picked up and fixed (if under warrenty). Its pretty much a comfort factor - less hassle. I myself prefer to build them, but then again, I don't know enough to be really competant when it comes to troubleshooting issues. I have had my fair share of problems - including kaput motherboards (brand new - got a refund), 512mb of memory dying (it was 2nd hand), un-known graphics card issues (Raddie 9800 pro - turned out it didn't have enough pooooower on the '12v rail' as they say for my system specs, so it kept freezing the system up needing vpu recover), HDD failure.

Now some of those were my own fault - 2nd hand junk (They did last 1.5 years though...the memory, the hdd) and some was just out of my control (Mobo!), and some was just lack of understanding (Vid Card) - but if you knew less than me, you would have been back and forth to PC Repair places about 10 times . That would probabily have been the cost of a new comp

I agree that Alienware is quite pricey, but it does have very good customer support (apparently - a friend has had one for four months, not complained yet) and they all look damn cool. It has an unnerving ability to awe visitors into respectful silence.

ff is also right. Alienware prefer to sell REALLY top end stuff, so anyone who buys one won't need to bother with upgrades for some time.

how top end are we talking ?

Very top. They use the best parts from all fields to make them.

One thing about Alienware too, they can build you just about anything you want. I am one of those people Chips is talking about that doesn't know much about building computers, and I plan on getting my next one from there. I know it is going to cost more than it would if I could build it myself, but I can't. Before you say I should go take a class and learn how to do it myself, but I really don't have time for that, and to be honest, building my own machine isn't going to save me enough money to justify investing the time and money into a class. If you are going to have a career in computers of some sort than that class would benefit you, but I am not, I already have a career.

You can get just about any component and features that are on the market put into your Alienware though, so they can customize your machine to do anything. As they say, "speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?"

*Waits for Comont to stop in *

They are very powerful, look cool, and no mess What's wrong with that

Heh, yeah, customer support is top notch (however, im comparing it to Toshiba, who has the worst support ever, and i mean EVER) and yeah, I dont have any clue as to how to build one either, I know what I want in a computer, but have no idea where to get it and how to put it in .

"Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks. "

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however, im comparing it to Toshiba, who has the worst support ever, and i mean EVER

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Ok, beat this:

my current desktop computer, not about 2 years old, originally was the buggiest piece of crap ou had ever seen. i put it in to be serviced after it kept locking up while plaing games. they found no problems, and sent it back. SIX MONTHS LATER, after the problems persisted, they found the problem to be a defunct HDD and put a new one in. not many problems since.

my laptop, about 3 moths ago, had to be replaced after the motherboard power assembly snapped off. i put it in to be replaced, done in about a WEEK (terrible) aand got it back. i check the systems and hardware specs, and found that it had been UNDERCLOCKED from 1.6 GHZ to 600MHZ. again, i put it in to be replaced, a day before school was due to start (i use it for schoolwork, my handwriting is completely illegible), took them a week of 'trying to isolate the failure' and another week to order in ANOTHER mobo before i got it back.

i spent a HALF hour on my phone, redialling after they said they needed my password...


ANYWAY:
alienware. meh, laptops, in my opinion are the hardest to upgrade. make sure you get one that has alot of parts replacement options for it. i can replace almost anything on mine (HDD, RAM, WLAN card, Optical, CPU, all have thier own little removable service panel). then again, some just integrate everything (AND I MEAN EVERYTHING) onboard and you have to chuck it out and buy another when you want to upgrade (hmm... sounds alot like a Mac to me...)

Voodo is better they are starting to edge out alienware. Also in the latest PC magazine they pitted an Alienware a voodoo and some other laptop agaisnt each other and the Alien had exactly half the specs on running games of the others. Doom 3 ran at 29 fps on alien and on the voodoo it got 60fps and the others were at about 47fps

Yep. The Sood brothers are doing quite well.

On the other hand, I just went and configured the desktop I am going to get from Alienware on Voodoo's site (AMD64 FX-55, 2GB Ram, 2 GeForce 6800 Ultras, etc.) and for basically the same features, the Alienware was $5,200+ and the Voodoo was $6,300+. That isn't to mention that the Alienware configuration comes with a 148GB Raptor HD for that price and the Voodoo only comes with a 74GB Raptor. It seemed like Alienware had more hardware choices too.

I'm not disputing that Voodoo might make a better machine, but you certainly have to pay for it.

The alienware is good....

AND MAJOR POINT HERE

I needed a new computer so I went to dell website who in UK cant be beat for price or so I thought. Spec it up.... £1300

Then went to alienware far more options and got MUCH better graphics card and sound and ram... IT CAME OUT TO £1100.

So much for they are expensive I got a better machine and it was cheaper........ So some people's points on here do NOT stand up.....

Ok grave digger, put down the shovel and hands on the wall.

AW is a name or more money, like other fancy names.